1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to point-of-sale article packaging in general, and more particularly to packages for displaying articles on sale through their transparent front panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already known various constructions of packages for a variety of articles to be sold, among them so-called blister packages that are referred to in this manner because of their resemblance to blisters. The basic idea behind these packages was to contain the articles in a manner that would allow the prospective purchaser to observe them or even visually examine them, without gaining direct access to them, though.
While the original idea may have been to display the articles to their best advantage, experience has shown that their use also reduces the degree of pilferage, whether intentional or unwitting, of especially small articles. This is especially true with the advent and relatively widespread use of store door alarm devices, since it is relatively easy to provide the package with a tag or similar element that would trigger the alarm unless deactivated by the cashier or store clerk, whereas it would be at least impractical to try to provide each article, no matter how small, with such a triggering element.
However, it has been established that the ingenuity of storekeepers is at least matched by that of shoplifters who came up with a method of avoiding detection of their illegal appropriation of such articles: merely remove the respective article from its package and secrete it on your person. The idea is that, unless this act is detected while in progress, the perpetrator will either walk out of the store without triggering the alarm or, if searched, the origin of the article will be difficult to prove, both as a result of having left the incriminating package behind. All it takes to remove the article from its blister package is a quick cut through the front panel, and a deft move to extract the article from the package through the thus created slit. Of course, the store owners were not happy about such developments, and expressed their feelings to the article manufacturers and/or packagers who found it impossible not to listen to and be concerned with such legitimate complaints.